Well, it's OSO so no surprise to me.... It's too bad your thread was hijacked and thrown off course...

Glad you got the race off this year and congratulations to all involved, especially OL and both Joe's!:drink:

You don't think Key West gets worldwide press? Buzzi goes there to race. Even the Class1 guys race Key West.

Kudos to Charlie and Billy for pulling this off and getting this much interest!
Congrats to the two Joes and Outerlimits.
I love it and if the boating Gods (and my wife) are all in agreement, I plan on running it next year.
Growing up on the Jersey Shore watching the Benihanna in the 1970's and going to boat shows each year drooling over the go-fast boats, I always wanted to race offshore. I was the guy wearing a Cigarette jacket in high school instead of a letterman jacket! In college I got the opportunity to run with team Kamikaze (A-33) in US Offshore. That sealed it for me. Long story short, as I grew in years and boat size, I leaned more to poker runs then racing for a few reasons. First, I could set my schedule and not spend 1/2 the year trailering around the country, the maintenance cost of running 110% every weekend is not in my budget, and I don't like the newer courses running rubrail to rubrail.
This is just my opinion.
That said, The idea of running an endurance race is VERY appealing to me. I have the boat and crew to do it and hopefully next year, I will have the time.
Thanks for bringing this back and I hope to get a chance to run it next year!

Personally I don't think many people give a crap. In my circle of friends and acquaintances of offshore boaters, none of them go to or even talk about racing. Poker runs are another thing.

So you get a few thousand down there and there's some pomp and parades, this sport is mostly a fringe event that the general populace is unaware of. There's so much wrong with it that it's not a viable marketing event. No disrespect from those who have passion for the sport and pour their hearts and finances into it.

Key West is a perfect vacation spot and a season ender globally, plus it somewhat still holds the racecourse offshore.

I think Poker Runs appeal to more boaters due to the social nature of the event. I know it does for me.

And then there' s racers who think just the same you wrote about poker runs....which ain't even a race.

Personally I don't even take a second look on pleasure boats , used to but not anymore same goes with cars, bikes are the only things I look different, and that prolly changes too sometime.

thats true. point well taken. maybe the lack of races is the reason why boaters have no interest? personally i would be interested in one, if the course were shorter (50-80 miles). something like newport to CT River or Prov to BI. Also the boats would have to be seperated into classes. A 30' boat competing against 40'+ is hardly fair. just my 0.02

Then you're the fringe of the fringe. Not a bad thing but your not addressing the previous point of the popularity of the sport.